


Past, Present, Future

by Magisey



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Hanzo has a hard time with languages and that's why he's a frost king, M/M, Slow Burn, Teacher-Student Relationship, individual chapters will have warnings n stuff, jesse has a lot of kinks im sorry not sorry, language learning, later chapters might smut but its a high teen rn, really mild basically hanzo is teaching jesse and jesse is teaching hanzo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-15
Updated: 2017-05-15
Packaged: 2018-11-01 02:21:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10912356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Magisey/pseuds/Magisey
Summary: Four idiots try to fight for their future while being crippled by the past. Thankfully, they have their ultimate secret weapon: Jesse Mccree. Learning English and Japanese, playing video games, silly bets, awkward confessions, shared pasts, missed chances, new love, and more. A rollercoaster of emotions.Save the Shimada's save the world. Or something.(no beta)





	Past, Present, Future

**Author's Note:**

> Headcanon: Hanzo isn't frosty or standoffish by choice. He does that because his English is poor and he can't let himself look foolish.
> 
> That's it really. Hit me in the middle of the night.  
> This is going to be hard to write because I don't read or write Japanese... So I'm going to have to adlib a lot of stuff. 
> 
> As a disclaimer, I'm bilingual learning a third language. I went into an immersion study. So I understand, to a degree, how fucking terrifying it is to learn another language and not know what you're doing while everyone around you is fluent and can talk circles around you. I will do this as respectfully as I can for Hanzo and other English learners. If at any time I make a mistake, please let me know. I'm not infallible. 
> 
> Please leave comments and likes!! I like talking to everyone
> 
> also this is unbeta'd

Their first meeting had gone miserably. Mcree figured that their shared acquaintance, Genji, would have cracked some of the ice that layered on top of Hanzo, but it only set the other man into a deep freeze. Hanzo shut down. Hard reboot. The topic of Genji was never to be touched again, least not in the way Mccree had done. Still, Mccree figured that bad impressions couldn’t last forever. They had to break at some point, yeah? So, he decided to stick with it.

The first week made no progress. Missed connections, awkward training sessions, stilted conversations over dry food in the mess hall. Not the best was an understatement, their first week was abysmal. Mccree had to constantly remind himself that Genji had been the same, if not worse. The Shimada puzzle was a tough one to crack, but not impossible.

The second week showed no improvement either. More awkward training sessions, missions filled with dead comms, awkward meals. Whole conversations that were so one sided Jesse wasn’t sure if he was trying to talk to the other man or lecture him on the finer points of the days weather. Still, he said, it’d get better. Had to. Genji had started to crack by now, broken down by the relentless ‘y’alls’ and sweet smiles. Mccree simply had to crank the charm up to ten, no eleven. That would be the ticket.

The third week ended in disaster. Specifically, that very day, that very meal. Hanzo stood and left the mess hall as if his balls were on fire, his metal feet pinging off the cool concrete floor like pistol shells in a metal room. Mcree had stood, awkwardly chasing him like a puppy -

“Now c’mon, I don’t -- Hanzo, just wait a darn second here you’re not even --” And then the door slammed in his face, Hanzo on one side, his feet still firing away at piston speed, Mcree on the other, stunned silent with wide eyes and slack jaw. Now, Jesse Mccree was used to doors being slammed in his face, hell it happened all the time. Sometimes they were so hard it knocked him on his ass. However, he _wasn’t_ used to it when all he was trying to do was shoot the shit with their new recruit. Frustration and humiliation boiled out of him in a sharp yell of, “Fuck it!” and then the cowboy was stomping away, his spurs rattling as he stomped out of the mess hall.

He found himself on the roof, pacing back and forth as he gazed at the scenery of the Gibraltar base. It was pleasant outside, if a little hot. Jesse wasn’t shy with heat, he had grown up in and around the desert his whole damn life. If anything, the burn was a pleasant distraction from the humiliated rage that kept nagging at him. With his hands on the railing, staring at the crystal blue sea, he thought over everything he had said to their new companion.  No matter how hard he looked, he could find nothing wrong in his interactions with Hanzo.

“I see my brother has bothered you.” Genji’s voice carried from behind him, echoed by the stairwell, mirthful and teasing.

“Glad t’know your eyes are working,” Jesse barked out a rough laugh and sighed, deflating. He wasn’t going to explode, but he was sure as shit still angry. Genji’s steps had always been stealthy, but now they were whisper soft and impossible to detect.

Genji’s light chuckle stirred a little bit of that humiliated anger in his gut, but Jesse shoved it down. He meant nothing by it,  “Do not worry, he is a puzzle much harder than any you have attempted.”

“Harder’n you?”

“Much, much harder,” Genji admitted, his body now in the peripheral of Mccree’s vision. He rested with his back against the railing, elbows on either side. There was a click and hiss as Genji’s visor came off, revealing his face. Faint wind ruffled the tuffs of green hair poking from the visor. The sun gleamed off the smooth seams and hard edges of Genji’s armored body. Mccree forced himself to look at the sea again, “Do you remember how I was when I came here?”

How could he forget? Of all the recruits, Genji was the most difficult and notorious to work with. He was a forced to be reckoned with, for both sides of the battle. “Furious, shattered. You were miserable.” Genji only hummed in approval, leaving the silence to fill in the space between them. It wasn’t tense, but it rustled a restlessness in Mccree. Why the past? Why now? He grunted and shifted his weight to one him, now resting his forearms on the hot  metal railing, “So? What’s that got t’do with this?”

“A little bit of everything. I lost my life and my body. I had to restart new, and in that way it was a blessing.” Genji outstretched his hand, and Mccree’s eyes followed. He watched as every mechanical digit stretched and curled, the slender wrist twisting this way and that. Hands that Mccree had seen rip apart sheet metal like tissue paper, yet now they looked like they were made of glass, “I was no longer Genji Shimada, second son of the Shimada Clan leader. I was Genji, robot, monster. I was a tool. It was easier to lose myself in it.”

 He remembered. Genji signed up for as much blackwatch work as he could. He was tireless, violent, reckless. At first it seemed like a wonderful tool, but Reyes cut to the quick with stunning speed. _“He’s looking to die, or maybe it’s better to say he’s not living. He’s dead inside. We need to break into him.”_ And that was when Commander Reyes used his pocket Ace. The one that helped draw out the poison of the crew so they could heal and be useful. Commander Reyes sent him:

Jesse Mccree.

“You spent hours needling me. It was so annoying!” They both laughed, shared memories of stupid stunts and bets washing between them, “You were relentless, but I found myself relaxing around you. Do you remember when things changed?”

“Changed?” Jesse shook his head. No. It seemed hard to connect the Genji that joined Blackwatch to the Genji that would giggle over dirty jokes or silly pranks with him. They weren’t at all alike, just like that Genji and the one beside him were perfect strangers. Jesse didn’t know this Genji. It made his heart ache.

“I called you ‘Mcclean’. I was so angry!”

“I forgot! Mcclean!” Just as they had that night, they fell into raucous laughter. God. Mcclean had been such a long running joke, something that they would bring up in passing. _Did you mission go well Mcclean? Hey Mcclean, clean your room! Jesse Mcclean you are a dirty liar._

“But I was in a better place than Hanzo. I had lost my past. Hanzo… He holds onto his. For Hanzo, his past is his present. Even if it is gone, it still strangles him.”

Jesse grunted, his mind still stuck on the past as well. Mcclean had been near the end, and it had revolutionized their relationship. But when things broke down, Genji was the first to go, without word to Mccree. It still stung.

“Jesse? Did you hear me?”

“Nah, partner. Not really. Got a little lost in the past.” What had once been companionable silence twisted into awkward, painful tension. _Long conversations shared below the moon. The sound of the sea lapping against the cliff, the soft wind twisting the smell of salt water and oil from the machines nearby. Desperate, whispered words, long held and finally released.Tentative hands, fingers twisting together. Soft sighs and softer lips. Only a little, a taste of something sweet and beautiful. A taste of something good after all the bad they had lived. It felt right. Felt good. Felt like it was all he had wanted, but then…_

_Then…_

“Jesse… I’m sorry.”

“Shoot,” When had his eyes started burning? Jesse ducked his head, tugging the brim of his hat down to shade his eyes as he swallowed thickly, “Ain’t nothin’ to apologize for.”

“No, I need to. You… Deserved better, Jesse. Deserved a goodbye, at least. Something. You lost Commander Reyes, your family, and then… Me. I was surprised you would even talk to me when I showed up for recall.”

Sniffing roughly, the gunslinger let out a mirthless laugh, “Like I’d freeze out my partner in crime.”

Genji’s laugh was strained, “You are too good a man. Let me… Explain this. I think it will help you in the long run with Hanzo.” When Genji didn’t start to speak, Jesse merely grunted in agreement, sure his voice would crack if he so much as muttered a single sound.

“I was broken, lost, but free. I have always been free. Before my transformation, I was a playboy. I spent my days in sin, with as many as I could. My father indulged me, and Hanzo did too. But while I was free, Hanzo was confined. Hanzo had so much put onto him, so many expectations. We were both gifted athletically, but Hanzo was… A genius. He could split an arrow with two, three, four by the time he was seven. His aim was deadly accurate.

“I was good too, but... Nothing like he. My gift was in communication. I was doted upon, indulged. I spoke out, often and loudly. My mother was always giving me what I wished, my father staying the hand of elders. We both studied, but Hanzo was smarter, quicker. Like a fish to water. I was more a cat in that pond of learning. I could swim, but I fought every inch of it.

“Hanzo… He donned every burden given to him. He tried his best. His only flaw was in his communication. It was stilted, troubled, but it was fine. He was expected to be unapproachable as the heir, to give off a sense of nobility and grace.” Genji rested then, glancing at Mccree with an expectant look. He hated to disappoint his friend, but the only look Genji got in return was one of pure confusion.

“Hanzo was… Control and Pride. I was Indulgence and Shame. Coming to blackwatch, I could stop being that. I had to really. Hanzo though… I do not know if even you could help him be something else, something new. Not at the rate you are going, at least. You are hitting an obstacle that your southern charm cannot diffuse.”

“Seems like it, but what else d’ I got beside my good looks, hot ass, and southern charm?” Their laughter calmed the tide of unsaid words and broken pasts. For the first time, Mccree shifted so he could look at Genji, really look at him.

Genji nodded, his eyes sparkling, “Just that. You have your humor, Mcclean. You are a good sport, not one to take things too seriously. Your ability to play the fool has always been your strong point,” Jesse glowed below the praise, his stomach warming with the familiar tingles of happiness and something more. Not now. Not him. “Where I stumbled and tried to learn more English, my brother… Will not. He is petrified of making a mistake. He must appear in control and perfect.”

Well shoot. That explained a lot of Hanzo’s stoic silence and pointed looks. Explained the brief hellos and simple responses to questions. Jesse had always figured it was from disdain, but now it made sense. Hanzo was too afraid to be the fool.

And that, as Genji pointed out, was something Mccree excelled at.

“Hanzo’s English was never as good as mine. I was the communicator, the smooth talker. I picked up English quickly and used it day to day as I played around, but Hanzo never did. Language was not his strong suit. He was passable, of course, but… Think of how slow and stilted I was when I first joined Blackwatch. Hanzo will be even worse, and he simply can’t let himself be anything but perfect.”

“Right, so then.. How do I get him t’open up?” It was fine and dandy to know what the problem was, but Mccree still felt lost.

“Oh,” Genji’s grin was familiar, the mischievous glint reminding Mccree of midnight Mess Hall runs and ruthless bets with high stakes. Adventure bubbled in his veins, a challenge on the horizon, “I have a plan for that.”

 

* * *

Mccree worked the words over his tongue again and again, remembering the firm sound of Genji’s exasperated voice as he tried, again and again, to get the sentence straight in Mccree’s head. To make matters worse, Genji refused to tell Mccree what it meant.

_“Trust me. It will work.”_

He left the hallway and climbed the stairs to the rear shooting gallery, the one that would be shaded and cool by this time. It was mostly open air, and peaceful. Most practiced in the shut in rooms or simulators, so it was usually empty. Save for the bowman, currently slotting another arrow and letting it fly. Hanzo’s form was like poetry - angles so sharp and tense it was as if he had been etched from diamond. There was power and precision in that stance. Hanzo Shimada was a lethal killing machine.

That shouldn’t be hot, but Mccree gave up on telling his body what should and shouldn’t be hot. Powerful men just happened to be to to his taste.

“Mccree,” Hanzo’s stated. It didn’t seem like much of a hello, but considering some of their greetings were nonverbal, he supposed it was a step in the right direction.

“Hey there Hanz. Your aim is as good as ever.” That got a satisfied grunt from the archer, as yet another arrow pierced the target dead center. Jesse rested against the back wall and watched as arrow after arrow found their mark.

_“Wait until he is out of arrows. Let him be finished and then speak. You must have his undivided attention, even if it is for a second. That is your chance.”_ Genji’s council rang in his head.

It wasn’t difficult to wait, Hanzo put on quite the show now that there was an audience. The archer started to walk, slow at first, from one side to the other. Every few steps an arrow left the bow with an impressive ‘twang’ and stuck, dead center in a targert, with a heavy ‘whump’. The pace increased as he walked back. Faster on the return, faster, faster, until Hanzo was running, Arrows flying as fast as his fingers would allow, each smashing the precious arrow, or burrying deep beside the others.

Hanzo leapt at the wall, running up (climbing?) it with ease that was almost terrifying if it weren’t so elegant. He flipped in the air, really flipped of all the damn things, and let loose his final arrow. Hanzo landed, his hair ribbon fluttering in the air like a pair of butterfly wings. Looked like the ones in Mccree’s stomach had escaped.

“Unacceptable,” Hanzo’s cold words snapped Jesse from his reverie. The final arrow was off-center, to the right. Protests rose in his throat but were swallowed them down. No. He had to wait. He had a mission.

Finally, the archer turned towards him, dark eyes scrutinizing his form. Demanding to be told why Mccree was there, encroaching on his space.

_You must pounce as soon as he acknowledges you. It is a slim opening._

Good thing I’m the quick, and you’re the dead.

The words tumbled from his lips, stuttering and halting in awkward breathes. Some of the sounds were wrong, and Mccree had to quickly retrace them. It felt like an eternity of speaking, but it lasted less than half a minute. Through it all he remained serious, never letting his embarrassment show, except a splash of color on his cheeks.  Hanzo stared, eyes wide and eyebrows to the moon.

Silence rang in the air, tension wound as tight as it could go. It was snapped by a loud and bright laugh. Like the sound of angel’s wings. Mccree loosened up as Hanzo lost it, doubling in laughter.

“W-wha… Why in the -- How?” Hanzo gathered himself, coughing to cover the last desperate giggles, “Wh-ho taught you?”

Mccree puffed out his chest, “Genji. Said I was a quick learner.” That got another snicker.

“Of course… that brat.” Hanzo tucked a stray hair behind his ear and shook his head at Mccree, “Do you know what… it means?”

“Nah. Genji said it meant somethin’ like ‘please teach me’.”

“Teach you? Why?”

Jesse shrugged and adjusted his hat, “‘Cause I got a yearnin’ for learnin’.” Okay the drawl was getting ridiculous, but it tugged a little smile onto Hanzo’s face. The archer, fully recovered, pulled his walls back up. The smile fell, and the harsh scowl returned. That was it. There was no going back now, no second chances. Jesse had blown his one chance to get close to Hanzo and now ---

“What do I get?”

“Wha?” Ah, so… It wasn’t over? Mccree tried to dust out the gears in his head, get them turning back in time to what Genji had said. He had to be specific, but not blunt. He had to offer this in a way that wouldn’t offend Hanzo’s Pride, “Well, what ‘bout a trade? I’m not the smartest on base, and I speak with my lovely southern drawl, but I could practice some English with you?”

Hanzo’s muscles rippled, like a cord pulled tight. Shit. Wrong thing to say again? Now he was really fucking up, “My English is fine.”

Mccree sighed and shifted his weight, wishing he could smoke, but knowing it would throw off the dynamic. Damn stress. “My Ma never learned a lick of English. She only knew how to say ‘yes’ ‘no’ and ‘ask my husband’. English aint easy. Frankly, I’m amazed at how much both you and Genji know.”

While Hanzo did not calm down, his shoulders seem to ease. Curiosity danced in his eyes, “Your mother… Did not learn English?”  
  
“Nah, only knew Spanish. Spanish and Navajo. Taught me all the Spanish I know.” and what little Navajo he could recall. Mostly numbers and a few things like mother, father. Madre Mccree was a sweet woman, but language wasn’t her gig either.

“Perhaps… I could learn new words.” Mccree couldn’t stop the grin that bloomed on his face. Hell yeah! He had cracked the puzzle. Genji had to learn about this new development. Their stupid plan had worked, “I will teach you, you will talk to me. Deal?”  
  
“Deal!”  
  
They gave a firm shake and it was set.

**Author's Note:**

> Jesse said something like "I am a stupid monkeys ass. A fool who wants to amuse you!" or y'know, something that would be really degrading to himself but flattering to Hanzo.


End file.
